St. Landry democrat., 1887-01-08
summer Christ, not an autumn Christ, but

!
| Oh, this suffering and struggling world
needs to be hushed and soothed and rocked,
lullabied in the arms of sympathetic Om-
| impotence! No mother ever with more
| tenderness put her foot on the rocker of
| sick child, than Christ comes down to US,
! to this invalid world, and He rocks it into
| placidity and quietness as He says: 'My
peace l give unto you; not as the world CIV
eth, give l unto you" Oh, you broken
hearted oh, you prosecuted and tried
souls oh, you burden bearers this day
declare unto you December Christ!
| Notice, also, a fact which no one seems to
notice, that this Christ was born among
! the sheep, and the cattle, and the horses,
and the camels in order that He might be
an alleviating influence to the whole animal
creation 1t means mercy for overdriven,
underfed, poorly sheltered, CALLED and NAL
treated animal creation. Hath the Christ
who compared Himself to dove no care
for the crueltieS Of the pigeon shooting?
Hath the Christ who compared Himself to
a lamb no care for the sheep that
are tied and contorted, and with neck over
the sharp edge of the butchers cart; or the
cattle train in hot weather from Omaha to
New York, with no water-tifteen hundred
miles of agony! Hath the Christ whose
tax was paid by fish, (the coin taken from
its mouth) no care for the tossing fins in
the fish market! Hath the Christ who
strung with His own hand the nerves Of
the dog and the cat, no indignation for the
horrors of vivisections Hath the Christ
who said: $50 to the anti no watchful-
! ness for the transfixed insectse Hath the
/ Christ who said: .'Behold the fowls of the
air." Himself never beheld the outrages
heaped upon the brute creation, that cam
not articulate it's grief! This Christ came
not only to lift the human race out of its
trouble, but to lift out of pang and hard
ship the animal creation.
In the glorious millenial time the child
| shall lead the lion and play with the cocka-
| trice only because the brute and reptile
| shall have no more wrongs to avenge. To
| alleviate the condition of the brute crea
| ton Christ was born in the cattle pen. The
| first bleat of the Lamb of God was heard
amid the tired focks of the Bethlehem
shepherds. The white horse of eternal
victory stabbed in barn.
But notice also in this account the three
Christmas presents that are brought to the
manger-gold, frankincense and myrrh.
| Gold to Christ. That means all the aff1u-
| ence of the world surrendered to Him.
| For lack of money no more asylums limping
on their way like the crpples whom they
helped, feeling their slow way like the
blind people they sheltered; millions of
dollars for Christ where there are now
thousands for Christ; railroads owned by
| Christian stockholders, and governed by
/ Christian directors, and carrying pasSen-
| gers and freight at Christian prices; George
Peabodys and Abbot Lawrences and James
! Lenoxes no rarity. Bank of England,
Bourse of France, United States Treasury,
all the moneyed institutions of the world
/ for Christ "a pp19 for ChriGt Gold mo-
merely paid the way for Joseph and Mary
and the Divine fugitive into Egypt but it
was typical of the fact that Christ's way
shall be paid all around the world. The
| gold for Christ, the silver for Christ, the
| jewels for Christ. The bright, round, beau
tiful jewel of world set like a solitaire on
| the bosom of Christ.
But / notice that these wise men also
shook out of their sacks the myrrh. The cat
tie came and they snuffed att; they did not
eat it, because it was bitter. The pungent
gum resin of Abyssinia called myrrh
| brought to the feet of Christ. That means
| bitterness-bitter betrayal, bitter persecu-
ton, bitter days of suffering, bitter nights
Of woe, myrrh; that is what they strewed
His path with all the way from the cattle
pen in Bethlehem to the mausoleum at
Josephs country seat. Myrrh. Yea, says
the Psalmist: GAN Thy garments smell Of
myrrh.' That is what the wise men
wrapped in the swaddling clothes of the
| Babe; that is what the Marys twisted in
the shroud of crucified Christ. The
myrrh. Oh, the height, the depth, the
| length, the breadth of a Saviour's sorrowl
Myrrh Well might the wise men shake
out the myrrh.
But notice, also, from another sack they
| shake out the frankncense. Clear up to
the rafters of the barn the air is filled with
| the perfume, and the hostlers and the
camel drivers in the further part OF the
| building inhale it, and it floats out on the
air until passers-by wonder who in that
rough place could by accident have dropped
box Of alabaster. Frankincence; that is
what they burned in the censor in the
| ancient temple. Frankincense; that means
worship Frankincence; that's to fill all the
homes, and all the churches, and all the
capitals, and all the nations, from cellar to
stalactited cave clear up to the silvery raft
ers of the starlit dome. Frankincense;
that is what we shake out from our hearts
to-day, SO that the nostrils of Christ, once
crimsoned with the hemorrhage Of the
cross shall be flooded with the perfume OF
| worlds alteration. Frankincense. Frank
incense in song, and sermon, and hand
shaking, and decoration. Praise Him,
mountains and hills, valleys and seas, and
skies, and earth and Heaven-cycione, in
your trumpets; northern lights, with your
flaming ensign; morning, with your castles
of cloud, and evening, with your billoWlng
| clouds of sunsetl
Do you know how they used to hold the
censor in the olden times Here is metal
pan and the handle by which it was held.
| In the inside of this pan were put living
| Nm tho fO, of them naTfOrate0
cover. In square box the frankincense
| ,,rns hrnu olt To the temnle This frankin-